CIEEM welcomes a new Fellow: David Feige CEcol FCIEEM

David Feige CEcol FCIEEM

Leading Nature Recovery in Northumberland

Since 2020, David Feige has been the Environment and Design Team Manager and County Ecologist for Northumberland County Council , responsible for the Ecology Team’s input into Development Management and Planning Strategy, the creation and management of Space for Shorebirds; the Council’s coastal mitigation service, the management of the Northumberland Coast AONB (now National Landscape) staff unit and the staff of the Berwickshire and Northumberland Marine Nature Partnership, which is hosted by the Council.

David’s application for Fellowship focussed primarily on the practical application of the principles of ecology and environmental management, including to biodiversity conservation criterion.

Having previously worked for the RSPB, David joined Northumberland County Couty as its sole Ecologist in 1997. Since then, he has worked hard to develop what is now a team of five Ecologists providing advice across this large and busy unitary authority, plus four Wildlife Rangers managing recreational disturbance in an array of designated sites on the coast.

Delivering Innovation Through Biodiversity Net Gain and LNRS

Early in the development of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), David realised that ensuring that a BNG solution was available for all employment sites was going to be essential to ensuring that BNG was not regarded as a risk by potential inward investors. David used early iterations of the BNG metric to estimate requirements across the County’s employment sites, then used this data to identify potential solutions. Key to this was a 270ha restored surface mine site just outside of Ashington called Potland Burn. The site had been bought by Advance Northumberland, the Council’s arms-length development company as a potential development site. Through a series of meetings with senior officers at Advance Northumberland David was able to demonstrate the benefits and importance of developing it as a habitat bank primarily to serve employment sites in the County, thereby facilitating Advance Northumberland’s key purpose of stimulating economic regeneration. It is now a registered habitat bank, and Advance Northumberland has established a separate company, Advance Green Futures, to manage it and to develop further habitat banks. Potland Burn has already been instrumental in securing a major inward investment to the county.

In 2020 Northumberland was one of five Councils approached by DEFRA to pilot Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS). David acted as the Ecology Lead for this process, during which he worked intensively with DEFRA to trial aspects of the emerging LNRS process and feed back to them about it. Following the enactment of the Environment Act, North of Tyne (i.e. Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside) was selected as an LNRS area and David acted as ecology technical lead for this, balancing ecological coherence and integrity with complex DEFRA guidance and requirements, and extensive consultation with environmental professionals, land managers, developers and members of the public. The draft LNRS was approved by Natural England with only minor changes required, and the final version has now been published, providing a clear vision of priorities for nature recovery over the next five to ten years.

A Well-Deserved Recognition of Professional Excellence

In awarding David Fellowship, CIEEM’s Governing Board agreed that:

“David has clearly been a dedicated and committed advocate for the wildlife of Northumberland and the northeast for decades, and has been highly influential in its protection, doing this with great integrity and a collaborative approach that is great to see. David shows a strong commitment to raising professional standards both within the organisation he works for but also being prepared to address and call out unprofessional behaviour when it occurs, working proactively to change behaviours.”

Reflecting on my 36 years in ecology I have realised a number of things. The first is that it is a real pleasure to be in a profession where I am still learning every day. The second is that I do have some achievements to be really proud of, which is not something I think about in the busyness of everyday work; and the third is that those achievements are only as good as they are because of the people I have been and am lucky enough to work with – ecology is most definitely a collaborative venture. I hope I can use the opportunities presented by Fellowship to inspire and support others in the profession.

– David Feige CEcol FCIEEM

CIEEM is currently on the road to reaching 100 Fellows by the end of 2026, a milestone that reflects the strength, diversity and expertise within the profession. If you have made a significant contribution to addressing ecological or environmental management challenges, Fellowship could be for you.

Becoming a Fellow is a powerful way to demonstrate your knowledge, skills and experience, while contributing to the continued development of the profession. Fellows play a vital role as leaders, mentors and advocates, helping to inspire and support others through their work and influence.

If David’s journey resonates with your own career, now may be the time to consider putting yourself forward.